Etymologically
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verro

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwɛr.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvɛr.ro][1]

Forms

verrō (present infinitive verrere, perfect active verrī, supine versum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wors-o-, from Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“to wipe, drag on the ground”).[1] Cognate with Albanian zvarrë (“dragging on the ground”), Ancient Greek ἔρρω (érrhō, “to move slowly, limp”) and Old Norse vǫrr (“stroke”).[1] The OLD also compares Old Church Slavonic връхѫ (vrŭchǫ, “to thresh”).[2] Plautus has the older ⟨vorrō⟩, and the perfect ⟨-verrī⟩ is found only in compounds.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of sweeping a place clean, as aedēs verrere “to sweep the house”.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to sweep clean with a broom, as in Plautus and Cicero's quī verrunt “those who sweep”, and Livy's mothers sweeping the temples with their hair.[2][3] It meant to sweep together, as in Horace, to sweep away, as in Columella, and in Virgil to brush the ground with something trailing, or to sweep the sea in rowing, of winds to sweep over.[2] In Lucretius it meant to carry off with irresistible force.[2] The grammarians disagreed about its perfect, and Macrobius says neither versī nor verrī was in use.[5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to sweep.[6] It survives in Spanish barrer and Portuguese varrer.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of sweeping a house.[2][3][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of sweeping along.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of sweeping the sea.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sweep clean.[2]
  2. To sweep together; to sweep away.[2]
  3. To brush, trail over; to skim the sea.[2]
  4. To sweep along with force.[2]

Word family

  • converrō
  • dēverrō
  • *versūra
  • *versōria
  • āverruncō
  • Āverruncus
  • versūra

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson